Small Steps

I am unsure how I feel about celebrating getting older, but I do like one part of the tradition.  Getting presents.  I am very excited about getting a book by James Clear called “Atomic Habits.”
I am interested to see if there is any “game changer” in there like there was in the book by Steven Covey called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  (The game changer for me was the chapter on paradigm shift.  I thought the illustration was so good about the dad on the train whose kids were running amok.  The other passengers said something to him, and he apologised saying he had just come from the hospital and the mum had died.  The other passengers went from judgement to compassion)
When I got Atomic Habits, I looked at different chapter titles.  There is a chapter called “the law of least effort.”  I was drawn to that chapter title as I have been endeavouring to do something similar in recent times.
I used to keep a list of things I wanted to do and things I did not want to do.  I had it all listed and ruled up.  When I succeeded, I would put a tick and if I failed, I would put a cross.  I gave that away after a while.  I found the things I wanted to do I did not do, and the things I did not want to do I did.  It was depressing.  The fruit of it was to give it away altogether.
In the last few years, I have decided it is a worthwhile exercise with a change.  I do not try to change everything all at once.  I celebrate small victories.  I concentrate on the wins and am finding I am less inclined to want to do the things I considered the losses.
Such thinking has freed me up for sure.  I am way less hard on myself than I was. As the book says, “the less energy a habit requires, the more likely it is to occur.”
I find it interesting the way my thinking has changed.  Instead of attacking a big thing in which I have failed for a lifetime I attack other seemingly smaller things.  I guess it is why I am fond of saying these days “many small things make a big thing.”  To me many small things make up the bigger thing, and I have had heaps of wins as opposed to one big loss.  Also, the many smaller things equal the size of the bigger thing, and I feel more able to deal with it.
One thing I have in the back of my mind when reading such books is they are good for those who are ready for them.  As Merril put it so well, so many are in a pit and need help to get out of the pit even before such things are considered.  Intervention is a first step.
I really like many little wins.